Comb combos…short and sweet!

[Ashleyboz]

I have some pullets and cockerels that I need some help with result in combs and how they got them. I’ve read certain comb type will make a totally different comb then both parents. Does anyone have a good link that explains the combinations and what the result will be? Or explain to me a few of mine?

*Edit* I have blue leghorn hens which I believe resulted in the floppy comb in this first picture but there’s a little bunched up almost “S” as you can see under the flopped over comb. I don’t have any roosters or hens that have the same comb as the second picture. They were hatched by me.

 

[GodLovesU]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/the-9-comb-types.63029/

Hope this can help!

 

[Frizzle and Friends]

I have some pullets and cockerels that I need some help with result in combs and how they got them. I’ve read certain comb type will make a totally different comb then both parents. Does anyone have a good link that explains the combinations and what the result will be? Or explain to me a few of mine?

*Edit* I have blue leghorn hens which I believe resulted in the floppy comb in this first picture but there’s a little bunched up almost “S” as you can see under the flopped over comb. I don’t have any roosters or hens that have the same comb as the second picture. They were hatched by me.

So the first one's comb is pretty typical for a crested single comb bird. The crest tends to push the comb forward a bit resulting in the scrunched look at the front and even the flop at the back.

The second bird's comb looks to be a rose comb. Do you have any breeds that have a rose comb on the farm? even though it doesn't look the same as theirs the genetics behind it are the same. If you have no rose combed birds, maybe walnut combs? Walnut combs are a combination of rose and pea combs, so his parent may have only had one pea comb gene. I notice he has a crest and maybe feathered legs? Is there any chance he's a silkie mix, because that is the most common breed with walnut combs.

 

[Ashleyboz]

So the first one's comb is pretty typical for a crested single comb bird. The crest tends to push the comb forward a bit resulting in the scrunched look at the front and even the flop at the back.

The second bird's comb looks to be a rose comb. Do you have any breeds that have a rose comb on the farm? even though it doesn't look the same as theirs the genetics behind it are the same. If you have no rose combed birds, maybe walnut combs? Walnut combs are a combination of rose and pea combs, so his parent may have only had one pea comb gene. I notice he has a crest and maybe feathered legs? Is there any chance he's a silkie mix, because that is the most common breed with walnut combs.

Thanks for the response! I do have silkies and one rooster is a possibility! I also have Brahma hens, Russian Orloffs, crele Penedesenca, and Sicilian Buttercup Hens. I can really tell who are the silkie crosses but I do have a breed that is giving a crest but not showing it. The first two pics are part of the same hatch with way less feather legs. I’m almost positive it’s my blue/red leghorn hens with another blue rooster I have in mind. But none of them have crests either and only crested chickens I have are silkies. The 3rd pic is some crested I am getting. I’m wondering if the Crele Penedesenca have the trait but my hens aren’t showing it? I have a lot that are looking very legbar but don’t have any Legbars.

 

[Frizzle and Friends]

Could you possibly give me a list of all the possible parents? Knowing the hens is very helpful with narrowing down who the parents are.

I'm going to guess that whoever the father is of these chicks is likely feather-legged and crested, so it makes me think the silkie. Unless you hatched the eggs of only one hen, it makes sense that those traits would all come from the chicks father. The only reason I doubt the silkie is I would expect dark skin or fifth toes on the offspring. I'm not so worried about the single combs, because some silkies carry them.

I think we can generally rule out the buttercup because I'm not seeing any duplex combs, but I don't know how the genetics of their combs really work so I'm leaving her as a possibility.
I don't think the feathered legs come from the brahmas since none of the offspring have pea combs.
The Orloff isn't the mother either because none of the offspring are bearded, though that would give the rose comb genes you are seeing.
The splash color is interesting because that only comes from two blues crossed. Do you have a photo of your blue rooster? Some single combed roosters can have tiny crests, so that could be where they are coming from. I can barely spot the crest on my legbar mix rooster.

That last pullet is barred, but that wouldn't come from the crele Penedesenca hen. Barred hens crossed to non-barred roosters give you sexlinks. Barred cockerels and non-barred pullets. Her father was barred, since a barred rooster gives barring to all of his offspring. Strange though that it didn't show in any of the cockerels.

 

[Ashleyboz]

Could you possibly give me a list of all the possible parents? Knowing the hens is very helpful with narrowing down who the parents are.

I'm going to guess that whoever the father is of these chicks is likely feather-legged and crested, so it makes me think the silkie. Unless you hatched the eggs of only one hen, it makes sense that those traits would all come from the chicks father. The only reason I doubt the silkie is I would expect dark skin or fifth toes on the offspring. I'm not so worried about the single combs, because some silkies carry them.

I think we can generally rule out the buttercup because I'm not seeing any duplex combs, but I don't know how the genetics of their combs really work so I'm leaving her as a possibility.
I don't think the feathered legs come from the brahmas since none of the offspring have pea combs.
The Orloff isn't the mother either because none of the offspring are bearded, though that would give the rose comb genes you are seeing.
The splash color is interesting because that only comes from two blues crossed. Do you have a photo of your blue rooster? Some single combed roosters can have tiny crests, so that could be where they are coming from. I can barely spot the crest on my legbar mix rooster.

That last pullet is barred, but that wouldn't come from the crele Penedesenca hen. Barred hens crossed to non-barred roosters give you sexlinks. Barred cockerels and non-barred pullets. Her father was barred, since a barred rooster gives barring to all of his offspring. Strange though that it didn't show in any of the cockerels.

Absolutely! The roosters were Blue Jersey Giant, Blue Cochin, and Blue silkie.
Hens - Blue breasted brown leghorns (main eggs i collected) blue giants, blue copper Marans, buttercups, light Brahmas, blue Cochins, orloffs, annnnnd I believe that’s it. I collected all at different times with different roosters. I didn’t write down when I always like to play the guessing game since it’s helps me pick out distinct features and learn a bunch. But I just can’t with these lol! Here’s some more from the group. You can def see which ones are the silkies. Some have blue legs and some have a greenish.

 

[Frizzle and Friends]

I get what you mean! I tried to do the same thing once and pick out certain hens eggs for a hatch. Low and behold out comes a chick that I thought was from our BLRW with no rose comb, the wrong leg color, and not a trace of lacing. I still don't know who her mother is to this day.

Looking at your batch, I can see the problem your having. The fifth and eighth pullets are definitely silkie mixes, and I'd hazard a guess that the first is too. I'm honestly leaning towards them all being from the silkie rooster. I know there's a way to make sex-linked crosses using fibro breeds, so you may have unintentionally done that. I'm not familiar with the crosses though, so @NatJ might be able to better help there. If your silkie only has one copy of the comb genes and fifth toe gene, that might be the cause of what we're seeing.

 

[Ashleyboz]

I get what you mean! I tried to do the same thing once and pick out certain hens eggs for a hatch. Low and behold out comes a chick that I thought was from our BLRW with no rose comb, the wrong leg color, and not a trace of lacing. I still don't know who her mother is to this day.

Looking at your batch, I can see the problem you’re having. The fifth and eighth pullets are definitely silkie mixes, and I'd hazard a guess that the first is too. I'm honestly leaning towards them all being from the silkie rooster. I know there's a way to make sex-linked crosses using fibro breeds, so you may have unintentionally done that. I'm not familiar with the crosses though, so @NatJ might be able to better help there. If your silkie only has one copy of the comb genes and fifth toe gene, that might be the cause of what we're seeing.

I do agree with you on the sex linked part and nice you bring that up. The girls all have small straight combs and little walnut combs. The boys all have the floppy comb or almost a strawberry or rose comb. Reassurance is always nice lol!

 

[NatJ]

I know there's a way to make sex-linked crosses using fibro breeds, so you may have unintentionally done that. I'm not familiar with the crosses though, so @NatJ might be able to better help there.

If the father has dark skin (blue/green/black) and the mother has light skin (white or yellow), then the daughters will have dark skin like their father, and the sons will have light skin like their mother.

Fibro (makes the "dark" skin be actually black) makes this much more obvious than just normal blue or green "dark" skin.

But there are other genes that can make the situation confusing. For example, the genes to make a black chicken will also add black to the skin of the legs. The blue gene will make the leg skin lighter, just like it makes black feathers into blue or splash feathers.

I'm honestly leaning towards them all being from the silkie rooster...If your silkie only has one copy of the comb genes and fifth toe gene, that might be the cause of what we're seeing.

That explanation makes sense to me too.

I think it is the best explanation for all those crests.

The splash color is interesting because that only comes from two blues crossed. Do you have a photo of your blue rooster?

That would have been a great way to narrow down which rooster was involved, except that all three of them turned out to be blue

That last pullet is barred, but that wouldn't come from the crele Penedesenca hen. Barred hens crossed to non-barred roosters give you sexlinks. Barred cockerels and non-barred pullets. Her father was barred, since a barred rooster gives barring to all of his offspring. Strange though that it didn't show in any of the cockerels.

I suspect that pullet has autosomal barring instead, caused by a combination of other genes, not the sex-linked barring gene that is so much more common. Autosomal barring is sometimes called horizontal penciling. It is found in Gold Penciled Hamburgs and in Egyptian Fayoumis. It is genetically very similar to lacing or to the Buttercup color pattern. In fact, I wonder if that pullet does have the Buttercup as her mother. I don't see a split comb, but from what I've read, the Buttercup comb gene can be a bit inconsistent in whether it makes visible effects in mixed chicks.

I have a lot that are looking very legbar but don’t have any Legbars.

Legbars have a lot of Leghorn genes. So if you hatched lots of eggs from Leghorn hens, and the Silkie rooster gave them each a crest, I think that would explain them pretty nicely. Depending on exactly which genes the Silkie has, that could also explain the variety of comb types and amounts of leg feathering.

I don't think the feathered legs come from the brahmas since none of the offspring have pea combs.
The Orloff isn't the mother either because none of the offspring are bearded, though that would give the rose comb genes you are seeing.

If we think the Silkie rooster is carrying the genes for single comb and for a normal number of toes, I wouldn't be too quick to rule out the Brahma and the Orloff as possible mothers. The Brahma might have only one pea comb gene, and the Orloff might have only one beard gene.

Looking at all the chicks, I think the Silkie probably has two crest genes, and is the father of all the crested chicks, given the rest of the possible breeds. Given the statement that most eggs hatched came from the Leghorn hens, I think that accounts for most of the chicks, with a few of the others maybe having a different mother (maybe a Buttercup for the barred-looking pullet, maybe a Brahma for the few with the heaviest foot feathering, maybe one of the other breeds here or there.)

 

[Ashleyboz]

This might help a little bit. I am getting these crested combos and definitely not silky. If I remember right, they were from a really dark egg which I believe was from the crele Penedesenca.